Worrying trend in rapes involving minors in Oshikoto

15 Feb 2017 12:40pm

OTJIWARONGO, 15 FEB (NAMPA)  Twenty-two rape cases involving minor girls have so far this year been reported to police stations in the Oshikoto Region.
Namibian Police Force (NamPol)s Oshikoto Regional Police Commander, Commissioner Anna-Marie Nainda on Tuesday said in a media release that in 2016, 95 cases of rape of minors were reported in the region.
The police are concerned that the high number of rapes reported this early in the year signals an increase in such cases of rape.
This raping of minor children has become a great concern for us in Oshikoto, Nainda said.
She noted that the majority of the victims are minor girls aged between six and 16, while the suspects are between 18 and 72 years.
The suspects in all cases from last year and this year were apprehended and appeared in court in the region, said Nainda.
Some of the rapes occurred in broad daylight, and some at night in houses or in bushes and riverbeds.
Nainda said some of the minors who were raped, were taken to State hospitals by the police where they were attended to by social workers.
She urged other victims  young girls and older women  who are suffering in silence, to immediately seek free assistance from police social workers at the nearest police station.
(NAMPA)
MS/AS/ND